Can someone tell me what this is growing in my flower bed??

[Maggimus]

Can someone please tell me what this is that just came up in my flower bed? We seeded for flowers this year and they are coming up. However we have no idea where this came from or how it got there. Someone told us it was a weed. But its got these vine-like-arms coming from it and right now its making me wonder what it is. Is it going to take over my entire flower bed?? Should I pull it up? Is it just going to vine around my mailbox or what should I do??

Help is appreciated!! (PS. Overlook the weeds- no wait, dont-- that might be one big weed itself!!)

 

[rkwells]

I'm no flower expert, but if you are talking about the Vine??? It looks to me like the Morning Glory Vines I have planted in the past...they have heart shaped leaves like the ones in the picture.
Maybe you planted Morning Glories?? If so this Vine will go crazy. I love them, but wouldn't leave them in the flower bed. You could if your willing to train it up a pole or trellis and keep it under control. By the way, here in N. Illinois Morining Glory vines are an annual. The flowers on the vines I have planted were the "Heavenly Blue" variety and are very pretty!

 

[Dismom+two]

Take them and wrap them up the mailbox pole, that is where I usually put mine.

 

[Maggimus]

You can see the mailbox right there in the photo.... it seems too far away from it to do that... should I try and dig it up roots and all and move it over there?

So everyones pretty sure its a morning glory vine? I have never seeded or planted one of those-- but this is pretty neat!

 

[Maggimus]

Wait, dont morning glory vines take over like honeysuckle and cutzoo (sp?).... so wont this look bad if i leave it?

 

[piratesmate]

People actually plant Morning Glory on purpose?!?!? Around here it's considered a weed! And it surprises me that it's an annual, because it comes up in the same places every year. Maybe there are different types?

 

[Maggimus]

So I want opinions-- would you take them out or leave them?

I dont want this to become one big disaster and me never be able to get rid of them- ya know?

ETA: I just went out and gave them a feel-- and they are fuzzy... almost prickley fuzzy... is this a characteristic of morning glory vines?

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

You can see the mailbox right there in the photo.... it seems too far away from it to do that... should I try and dig it up roots and all and move it over there?

So everyones pretty sure its a morning glory vine? I have never seeded or planted one of those-- but this is pretty neat!

I have to agree on morning glory...which is supposed to be an anuual but does come up here every year
I would try to move it and have it wind up your mailbox or a trellis.....very pretty IMO flower opinion.

 

[Maggimus]

Will this strangle my flowers if I leave it in the flowerbed?

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

No......just make sure you trim it as needed. Another trick is to take the dead flowers off to enhance a longer flowering season.
Give it a try and if you don't like it you can always remove it at the end of the season.

 

[amid chaos]

I have weeds that look like Morning glories...that looks like the weed to me. I say pull it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

If you do want morning glories, the pretty blue flower, you have to plant the seeds. This looks like the morning glory weed that has driven me crazy for years! If so, this has small white flowers, and it spreads like crazy. Also there is an even more insidious weed from afar that also has heart shaped flowers. So, I definitely would pull this.

Bobbi

 

[rockyroad]

That is Morning Glory.

Some years ago I thought they were pretty when they came up around my tomato plants.
I have been battling them ever since.

They are kind of pretty, but I would still pull it up or next year you may have hundreds and hundreds of them.

If you want to wait until it blooms you could probably do that.
But if the flower is not blue, rip that thing out immediately.

Another flower that came up and I thought was pretty, but was a huge mistake not to pull up was this wild sweet potato.

http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/savanna/plants/ws_potato.htm

 

[Safari Queen]

I recommend that you dig it up and try and get all of the root. It could be annual morning glory but it could also be a perennial version that wraps around everything, preventing the "good" plants from forming normally. I left it in my garden and now I have to patrol every day for about 15 minutes to try and keepit from taking over the world. It swarms over EVERYTHING!!

 

[Maggimus]

After all of your great advice i pulled it up! I didnt want to deal with it for many years to come. I hope its gone...for good. I did see it begin to form something that was going to bloom but didnt let it get that far. I chunked it in the woods behind the house so I wont have to deal with it anymore.

Thanks so much everyone!